Automobiles; From Toll Bar Keeper to Omnibus Entrepreneur

James Standring was my 3x great grandfather. He was born in 1800, to John Standring and Jane Stott, who was a toll gate keeper for the Failsworth Toll Bar, on the Oldham Road. Oldham Road, which connected Oldham with Manchester city, was, at that time, a turnpike road; a Georgian/ Victorian motorway. 

Turnpike roads were so called because they were originally gated by a 'frame of pikes' that could be 'turned to allow passage of horses' (turnpikes.org.uk). By the time that James' father John Standring was working the Failsworth Toll Bar the road's barrier was not so defensive, and was simply a gate that crossed the road and barred passage, until the toll had been paid. Turnpike roads were built by turnpike trusts, in an effort to develop well maintained highways that would allow for horse driven transport to move quickly and easily. It was thought that turnpikes would provide a commercial community with better opportunities, by being able to transport goods faster. J Bateman, of Lincoln's Inn, wrote in the index to the General Turnpike Road Act of 1823;

'By the improvement of our roads every branch of agriculture, commerce and the manufacturing industry would be benefitted. Every article brought to market would be reduced, and the expense of five millions would be saved annually to the public. The produce which is now wasted in feeding unnecessary horses would be devoted to the production of food for man.'
(The Toll Bars of Manchester, by S W Partington)

The aforementioned Turnpike Road Act laid down some rules and regulations;

• Windmills were not allowed to be constructed within 200 yards of a turnpike, with a penalty of £5 per day until the windmill was removed.
• Doors or gates of any kind were prohibited to open onto a turnpike road.
• Weight regulations should not include vehicles carrying materials with which land could be improved, nor any chaise, marine, coach, berlin, barouche, sociable, chariot, calash, hearse, break, gig, or taxed cart. (It seems to me that there weren't many vehicles that would be subject weight regulations!)
• All caravans or four wheeled vehicles, conveying goods, and built using springs were allowed a weight of three tons, fifteen hundredweight in the winter, and four tons five hundredweight in the summer.

Since John Standring worked the Failsworth Toll Bar in 1800, he may have had different regulations with which to work. 

I can't find a record of how much it cost to use the Oldham Turnpike, but the booklet, by S W Partington (The Toll Bars of Manchester) tells us that tokens were not used for Manchester turnpikes. It was strictly cash only, and where cash was not to be had, toll bar keepers would take pocket knives or whips from the drivers. The toll bar keeper would have lived in a gate house next to the toll bar, with the rest of his family. The gate on the Oldham Road would open at 5am, and close at 11pm, and the toll bar keeper would need to be on duty all through the open hours, or have someone be there in his stead. 

The toll bar keepers were not employed directly by the Turnpike Trust. Instead the trusts leased the turnpike gate, and the leaseholder would pay for the lease out of what he had taken in turnpike fees. The leaseholder was allowed to keep any other income he had earned for himself. The Failsworth Toll Bar was leased by auction, and the highest bidder won the right to take toll fees at the gate. They had the sum of £620, clear of all expenses, which would be about £65,000 in today's money. Quite a sum! The Standrings clearly were on their way up.

I've not been able to locate any records to pin down a death date for my 4x great grandfather John Standring, but we know from further baptism records, that his son James, was also a toll bar keeper. James Standring married Anne Massey in Bowdon, Cheshire, on 5th September 1824. I have found baptismal records for some of their 6 children; Harriet, James Massey, John, Hannah, Mary, and Sarah. James Massey Standring's baptismal record of 1832 states that his abode, at birth, was the Longsight Turnpike. The Longsight Turnpike was on the Stockport Road which led from Manchester towards London; a crucial highway for the health and wealth of Manchester. 

This watercolour painting of Longsight Crescent, by Daniel Orme, completed in 1818, gives us a good idea of what the toll bar might have looked like at the time that the Standrings lived and worked there. 

James Standring continued to be the Longsight Toll Bar Collector when his son John was born and baptised in the August of 1834, and Hannah Standring, his second daughter, and my 2x great grandmother, named Longsight as her birth place on most of her later census returns. Hannah was born on the 25th January 1839, but was not baptised until 2nd June 1839, by which time the family's abode was recorded as 'Pendleton', where her father was working as a bookkeeper. Perhaps the family moved from the Longsight Toll Bar, and new work commenced at Pendleton, in the months between Hannah's birth and baptism. 

Manchester Cathedral (circa 1851)

It seems that the family were on the up and up. The fifth child, another daughter, was born in October 1840. Mary Standring was baptised, also at Manchester Cathedral, on 1st March 1841. In the baptismal records we find that James Standring, the father, was no longer a bookkeeper, but had been raised to 'manager'. James Standring continued to work as a manager the following year when his final child, Sarah Standring was baptised on the 25th January 1842. 

The 1841 Census gives us an idea of what James Standring managed; a coach establishment. He may not have been collecting at a toll bar any longer, but he was still involved with the business of the roads, and transport. It's clear that the family were doing well for themselves as James Massey Standring, the first born son, was not living with the family in the 1841 census, but was instead, living as a boarder at a boys school on the Manchester Road. I've not been able to ascertain the name of the school he attended, but needless to say, boarding school fees would have required a degree of wealth that was not achievable by most people of the time. The rest of the family were found living with two servants; a luxury only the wealthy could afford.

The owner of the 'coach establishment' for whom James Standring worked, was John Greenwood. Greenwood had started out as the Pendleton Toll Bar Keeper, and had amassed a great deal of wealth in that line of work. He had started the omnibus business circa 1828; the first of its kind in the nation. The boxlike coaches, which carried 8 passengers inside, and were run by a driver who also acted as conductor, initially had run from the Pendleton Pole to Market Street, for a fare of 6d (six pence). The coaches were originally called the 'Auxilium', but this was soon dropped for the term 'omnibus', although locals called the conveyance the 'Pow Mail', since it carried mail from the Pendleton Pole. John Greenwood, described as 'a big man with knee breeches and coloured stockings', died in 1855. The omnibus business was passed on to his son,  also John Greenwood, which later became known as the Manchester Carriage Company.

The Five Wheeled Omnibus, Pendleton to Manchester 1861-66.

In 1857 James Standring demonstrated his canny business sense. Possibly using his connections with the Longsight toll bar owners, he bought the licence to the Longsight Bar, meaning that his omnibuses could run right through the bar without stopping. Other omnibus  companies (namely the City Omnibus Company, his major competitor) would have to stop at the toll bar, disembark their passengers, and have them walk around the bar, to be collected by a second omnibus on the other side of the bar, thus avoiding having to pay the fee. Being able to pass right through without hindrance would have been a major coup for his conveyance company.

By 1861 James Standring was no longer an employee but had climbed to the heights of a 'coal merchant and omnibus proprietor'. The family members living in the family home, now at Marlborough Place, Withington Road, Moss Side, included father James, son John, daughters Hannah and Mary, and niece Florence. Anne, his wife, had passed away at the age of 51, in 1855, from 'apoplexy'. Two other members of the household were servants; one a cook and the other a general servant. Alas, James' upwards trajectory was apparently too fast, and in 1862 he was declared bankrupt. He entered into an Indenture of Assignment with his creditors, John Rhodes, John Moss, and William Lancaster. The latter, William Lancaster was, by this time the father-in-law of his son, John Standring. William Lancaster was  at that time settled in Douglas, Isle of Man, and John had married his daughter Rachel in July 1859. William Lancaster, however, was a Liverpool pilot, whose job it was to help ships navigate the River Mersey safely. Pilots were held in high regard, and were paid handsomely for their work. In the 1861 census John Standring had been recorded as working with his father at the coal and omnibus company as a clerk, and it was this connection that undoubtedly secured William Lancaster's financial assistance.

A John Greenwood Three Horse Omnibus, circa 1856

By 1865 James Standring had sold his coal merchant business, perhaps in an asset liquidation effort related to his bankruptcy. It was agreed at this time, by Mr John Greenwood (junior), that James had earned the sole right to run omnibus routes along the Stretford Road, City Road, Old Trafford, Brook's Bar, Chorlton Road, and Oxford Street which are described as 'decidedly the best in Manchester.' His business was named the 'Standring Omnibus Company, Limited' and it included '215 horses, and 20 omnibuses... all in excellent condition. There is a commodious office and waiting room for the purpose of the omnibus traffic, and the stables are very advantageously situated. The omnibus business has always been conducted very successfully and profitably by Mr Standring.' Interestingly, one of the co-directors named in the article was William Nicholson Edgill, my 2x great grandfather and the man who was to become James Standring's son-in-law, when his daughter Hannah would marry in 1872.

Further stories from the newspapers shed some more light on his reputation as an omnibus proprietor. in 1857 James Standring, as proprietor, and one of his drivers, Walter Day, were taken to court for acts of cruelty against a horse. The horse had been observed to be whipped until it bled by passengers of the omnibus going to the 'exhibition', and they had drawn the attention of Inspector Crawkle, a police officer, on their arrival at the event. James Standring denied any responsibility, saying that the horse had been fine on leaving the stables, and so threw Walter Day under his omnibus! James was found not guilty, but his driver was fined 10 shillings (about £30 in today's money), and costs.

Following the invention of the omnibus, cartoonists happily used the idea in their art, to poke fun at various establishments, and politics.

In 1863 James Standring was fined £5 by Manchester City Police Court for allowing more people than his licence allowed to ride his omnibuses. In today's money the fine would amount to about £313.

A gentleman passenger on a Standring Omnibus in 1866, was travelling on the box, next to the driver when he was thrown from his seat, and broke his ankle. He was a travelling salesman for a Manchester wine merchant, and was unable to travel or work during his convalescence, and incurred high costs as a result. He claimed that the omnibus driver was intoxicated and was driving the horses by unnecessarily whipping them, and pulling them back. The plaintiff, William Piercy, was granted costs of £70 (around about £4,400 in today's money.)

An article from The Manchester Weekly Times and Examiner reported in March 1871 of a court case whereby several omnibus guards had been found guilty of embezzlement against James Standring. A police investigation had found that guards had been altering their fare collection records and pocketing some of the fare money to a total cost of 6 shillings and 5 pence (6s 5d), which in today's money would be about £20. It seems incredible to a modern day mind, that the guards on trial were each sentenced to 6 months jail time for this relatively petty crime.

A Victorian version of today's 'manspreading', was the problem that men experienced when travelling on the omnibus with women dressed in the large krinoline skirts, popular in the day.

James Standring died in 1872, whilst still under the Indenture of Assignment agreement made when he declared bankrupt. A notice of his death was published in the national newspaper, The Guardian on 7th December 1872, calling for all claims to be sent to his solicitors, so his estate could be settled. James Standring was buried, with his wife Ann, at St Luke's, Cheetham. Later the same year his daughter Hannah married William Nicholson Edgill, a co-director of his omnibus company.

It isn't clear what happened to his omnibus company, at his death. The company was struck from Companies House in 1883. Today, the Greater Manchester Museum of Transport does not mention the Standring Omnibus Company, and only references John Greenwood as the founder of the original horse bus. World of Coins, however, demonstrates that the Standring Omnibus Company did indeed exist, and shows these omnibus tokens, used by passengers, by way of a fare, perhaps used in an effort to protect the business from any further staff embezzlement.

Whilst this story of  toll bars and omnibuses clearly predates the invention of the automobile, it seems to me that without the work, entrepreneurship, and vision of men like John Greenwood, and of my 3x great grandfather, James Standring, automobiles would never have come to be imagined. The toll bars paid for the development of better roads, and the horse drawn omnibuses proved that public transport was a desirable and profitable service.  Whilst James Standring might have overshot his mark and declared bankrupt, Greenwood's omnibus system proved to be a financial success, one that became one of the most profitable of its kind in the United Kingdom.

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https://tringlocalhistory.org.uk/Tring/c_chapter%2002.htm

http://www.turnpikes.org.uk/

https://www.worldofcoins.eu/wiki/Standring,_James_-_Manchester

https://alifeatsealife.wordpress.com/2019/04/18/liverpool-pilot-service-arnet-robinson/

https://worldofcoins.eu/wiki/Standring,_James_-_Manchester

https://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/currency-converter/

Trains; A Family of Railway Servants

A while back I wrote about this handsome man for my post in the 'Heirlooms' week. He was a railway signal man, and had been given a beautiful gold pocket watch at his retirement, which we still have. When I researched George Grosset (1863 - 1935) and the rest of his family, I discovered that three of his four surviving sons had worked for the rail service in one way or another, all being referred to as 'railway servants' in their various records. 

George Grosset, 1863 - 1935

George Grosset (pictured above) and Margaret Bald married in 1885, in Duddingston, Edinburgh. They had a lovely large family of five sons, and four daughters in total; Ebenezer (1886 - 1950), Robert (1888 - 1951), George Ferguson (1890 - 1974), William Bald (1893 - 1971), Helen Calder (1895 - 1961), Beatrice Goodal (1897 - 1969), James (1899 - 1899), Margaret Bald (1900 - 1954), and Jessie Bald (1905 - 1979). Sadly the youngest son James did not survive his first day of life, and 'died of convulsions', on his day of birth; 26th May 1899. But for 3 of the surviving 4 sons, the railway was a large part of their lives, and all four were railway servants of one kind or another.

Robert Grosset was the second son, born to George Grosset and Margaret Bald. He was born on 6th June 1888, in Portobello, Edinburgh. The first time we see recorded evidence of him following in his father's tracks is in the 1911 Census. By this time Robert was  23 years old and was living in a boarding house in Tranent, East Lothian, with another railway servant, James Young, aged 19, from Berwick. The pair of them were working as 'demurrage checkers'. Demurrage is the fee charged to the owner of a private railcar that sits too long on the railroad, and the fee charged for the late return of railroad owned railcars. The area of East Lothian, where Robert was living and working was coal mining country. In fact the area boasted the earliest mined coal seams in Scotland. It seems likely that Robert worked on the Gifford branch line that was used to transport primarily coal from the pits of the Tranent area, to the Forth docks, and the centre of the city of Edinburgh. The Gifford line ran from Gifford, East Lothian, to Humbie, and then into the colliery district, circling around Saltoun, Pencaitland, and Ormiston, before finally reconnecting to the main line at Monktonhall. This line ran three return services a day, to Edinburgh Waverly, with 5 services on Saturdays. It was not a successful service however, and was closed to passengers in 1933, by which time Robert had moved on. The rail line has long since disappeared but is now a beautiful walking path, enjoyed by many.

Click on the map to learn more about this walking path.

In the 1921 census Robert Grosset was recorded as a goods guard for the North British Railway Company. By this time Robert was married to Mary Blair Pirie, and they were living, with their 4 year old daughter Margaret at 8 Livingstone Place, Portobello; a street known today as Adelphi Grove. Livingstone Place was a stone's throw from the Portobello goods yard, where it seems likely that Robert worked. As a goods guard Robert had the responsibility of ensuring the goods trucks were delivered and uncoupled at the appropriate tranship station, which would depend on the goods' ultimate destination. Robert might have worked on a train line, or his work might have remained within the goods yard.

All three brothers, like their father, worked for the North British Railway Company.

George Ferguson Grosset married Wilhelmina Bennett in Inveresk and Musselburgh, Midlothian on 21st April 1911. Just three weeks earlier the 1921 census was taken, in which George Ferguson Grosset was recorded as living as a boarder with a Mr and Mrs Crawford, in Newhaven. He was working as a railway servant, no doubt at the nearby railway dock yards. His landlord, Mr Crawford was a 'shipping checker' and they may have worked together. Incidentally the address that George (my husband's great grandfather) was living at was a short walk along the road from the Peacock Hotel, which was owned and run by my 2x great grandmother, and possibly various other ancestors. My own great grandfather had been born at the Peacock Hotel in 1870. The Peacock Hotel had been known for many years, as the best place for a fish supper, and by all accounts people had flocked to the restaurant for a well made dish of fish and chips. It seems likely that my husband's great grandfather had dined at this restaurant, owned by my ancestors. 

The Peacock Hotel, Newhaven, North Leith

George and Margaret's first child, yet another George Ferguson Grosset, was born the following year, by which time the family were living together in Portobello, at 94 North High Street, Musselburgh; just round the corner from where her parents lived at 188 High Street, Musselburgh. Not far from their home, just across the River Esk, was the Musselburgh Railway Station,  which is probably where George worked as a railway foreman. It was a terminus station, meaning it was the end of the line. The station no longer exists; you'd never know a railway station had stood there. The rail bridge across the River Esk, that served the station has been converted into a road bridge, and where the grand station had once stood, there is now a car park.

Musselburgh Railway Station

In 1921 the family had grown, and moved house, and George had a new job, as a railway dock foreman. In the previous 9 years George and Margaret had 6 of the 7 children they were to boast, in those short 9 years. Agnes Bennett (1914), Margaret Bald (1916), John Bennett (1918), Helen Calder (1921 - 1921) and Wilhelmina Bennett (1921). Their youngest son, Blair Grosset was born in 1926, and tragically their youngest daughter Helen died at just 12 days of age, the death certificate citing 'congenital debility' as the cause of death. On the 19th of June 1921, when the census was taken, the family of 7 were living in 2 rooms, at 27 Halmyre Street, Leith, from which George would walk up the road, presumably to the Leith docks (which Google Maps tells me would be roughly a 20 minute walk; not a bad commute!) The 1921 census tells us that George Ferguson Grosset was, by this point, a Railway Dock Foreman. As a foreman he would have had responsibility for other men, and  they would have been engaged with unloading ships, into railcars, and unloading railcars into ships; the latter probably being coal from the local coal mines, into the steamships for their next journey.

William Bald Grosset was born on the 13th February, 1893 in Portobello, Midlothian, when his father was working as a railway signalman. Records first show that William joined his brothers and father in the railway business in the 1911 census, when he was living in his mother and father's home at 14 Southfield Place, Southfield Place is situated just west of the impressive Portobello rail yard, which is likely where William, at the age of 18, worked his job as a railway number taker. Number takers had the job of noting down the numbers of all the railcars, which would then be passed on the the head office. In the pre-computer era, and without tracking technology, it was the way in which the rail company was able to track where their railcars were. Whilst the job might sound a little like train-spotting, it was rather more dangerous. It involved the number taker walking around shunting yards, where moving trains were arriving, departing, loading and unloading, and number takers were occasionally injured or killed doing this work. 

An aerial image of the impressive Portobello Rail Yard, circa 1940.

Luckily for William, he survived this work, and in 1915, at the age of 22, he married Anne Hunter Allan, a 'clerkess'. At the time of the marriage William was working as a 'railway goods shunter'. A shunter had the job of coupling and uncoupling railcars, whether they were empty or loaded, so they could be moved into the right place in the rail yard. They would use arm signals to convey to the engine driver what was required, and had a coupling rod which could be applied to the wagon, for use as a brake. When trains arrived at a goods depot the shunter would have the responsibility of breaking up the train, and shunting each part fo the train into the appropriate sidings. Similarly to number taking, shunter work was dangerous, always with the possibility of an injury or fatality due to an errant engine.

Again, either due to luck or vigilance, William survived the job of shunter, and in the 1921 census he had the far safer job of 'goods guard', for the North British Railway.  He and Anne also had two children; Charles (1916), and Margaret (1918). The family of 4 were living at 54 Broughton Road; just down the road from where they were living at the time of their marriage. At the top of Broughton Road, and across from the Edinburgh and Leith Cemetery was the Bonnington Goods Yard, and it seems likely that William was working here, both when he and Anne married, and in 1921.

The Bonnington Goods Yard

Bonnington Goods Yard was connected to the rail line via Bonnington Station, and was on the south bank of the Water of Leith, where various industries that presumably made good use of the transport, were situated. These industries included a paper manufacturer, a boiler works, Midlothian Oatmeal Mills, a foundry, and a sugar refinery. Just like his older brother Robert, its not clear if William worked on a train, or within the goods yard itself. The Bonnington Goods Yard no longer exists, and today the area on which it once stood is now a mixture of new apartment buildings and industrial units. The cobbles remain in parts, and the rail tracks that ran through the cobbles have been bricked over.

Anderson Place, Edinburgh

The three brothers worked as railway servants in the Portobello and Leith areas all their working lives. Robert Grosset was the first to die, in 1951, at the age of 63. At the time of his death he was a 'railway dock checker'. I've not been able to ascertain exactly what this job entailed, but I suspect it had something to do with checking that the correct loads were moved from train to ship, and vice versa. Robert died from a coronary thrombosis on the 9th December 1951.

Craiglokhart Hospital

William Bald Grosset worked until retirement. His wife Anne died in 1953, and at the age of 78, at the Craiglockhart Hospital, William died, on the 16th August 1971, due to various heart conditions including left ventricular failure. 

George Ferguson Grosset outlived all but one of his siblings; his youngest sister and baby of the family, Jessie Bald Grosset, who died on 1979. George retired from the rail service and died on 18th September 1974, when my husband, his great grandson was about 18 months old. 

While these three railway brothers were working the goods yards of Edinburgh throughout the early to mid 1900s, some of my ancestors were working the Leith docks, and serving fish suppers to, amongst others, hungry dockers, and railway workers. I've often wondered if the two sets of ancestors ever met, if they knew each other in passing, or they were just faces in the crowd to each other. Of course, we'll never know, but it is fun imagining.

#Grosset

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